Showing posts with label Pristina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pristina. Show all posts

Pristina's new jazz bar sets Kosovo swinging

Posted: Monday, 17 January 2011 by Jimmy Christ in Labels: ,
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Smoke filled drinking dens, foreign soldiers and swarthy freedom fighters, and a red flag with black decals whose appearance makes everyone feel awkward, Kosovo's capital of Pristina was doing a pretty good impression of 'Casablanca' all by itself, and that was before a jazz bar opened.

Hamam is the city's first jazz bar. With the swell of brass every night, it might be a bit much for most of Kosovo's drinkers – offering a stylish concrete and mud-slab interior, expensive drinks and equally expensive appetizers, including caviar, it wouldn't look out of place in Paris or London (where, funnily enough, those stylish fittings were designed by a Kosovan expat).

Promising local as well as international artists, Hamam might be a shock to the system after the years of bleakness, but it's a welcome addition to a city in dire need of some glamour and is set to be become a favourite with the international community and the city's music lovers. And doubtlessly weary budget travellers looking to spend a week's worth of funds on an evening's respite from kebabs and burek.

Pristina's Turkish baths take a hammering

Posted: Friday, 14 January 2011 by Jimmy Christ in Labels: ,
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From the ruins of fabled Illyrian cities and Byzantine fortresses, to the monasteries and churches of the Medieval Kingdom of Serbia, through to the splendour of Ottoman expansion – Kosovo, for all its woes, is rich in historical sites. And in despite the boots of of Communist mismanagement, inter-ethnic violence and bombing raids, there's still a fair bit of magic to be found in the rugged hills for any traveller with a spirit of adventure and some thick soles.

Sadly, it looks like one of Kosovo's most important architectural relics, the 15th Century Turkish baths in the capital of Pristina – once the largest in the Balkans, have had many features destroyed in a botched restoration attempt which began in 2007.

Sali Shoshi, director of Cultural Heritage Without Borders, told Balkan Insight damningly, “Cultural Heritage without Borders has not been a partner in this project since July 2009 because of the incompetence of local partners.”

“It is true that it has not been of good quality and much harm has been done to the building, which is not repairable,” added architectural engineer Gjejlane Hoxha in the same interview. “Original elements have been demolished.”

According to a report condemning the project from Istanbul University, the original 15th-century 'dog-tooth' cornices, discovered during the cleaning process, were destroyed by contractors and modern bricks were used instead of the original mortar recipe devised by the university.

The baths are predicted to be opened and in use by 2012, but at what cost? Its nightlife may be vibrant and its spirit forever optimistic, but until Pristina's historical sites are treated with respect, the city will forever be Prizren and Peć's ugly older sister and tourists will continue to flock to those beautifully preserved Ottoman quarters.

Easyjet rules out flights to, well, most of the former Yugoslavia

Posted: Thursday, 13 January 2011 by Jimmy Christ in Labels: , , , , , ,
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Britain's biggest low cost air carrier Easyjet has completely ruled out the possibility of flights to Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite earlier breathlessly reported claims to the contrary according to the Macedonian International News Agency. The airline currently flies to Slovenia, Croatia and, bizarrely, given their reluctance to fly to what might be lazily considered the 'shadier' Balkan counties, Pristina in Kosovo.